Newsline - January 7, 1998

A
presidential spokesman told Reuters on 7 January that
Boris Yeltsin will have a "full schedule" when he returns to
work on 19 January. The previous day, Interfax reported
that the president will not hold any official meetings
before 19 January. However, unnamed officials from the
presidential press service issued several statements
saying Yeltsin is keeping up an active schedule while
vacationing in the resort town of Valdai. Officials on 6
January said the president sorted through his mail, held
telephone conversations with Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and went
ice fishing and snow-mobiling. According to Reuters, a
Kremlin spokesman could not confirm an Interfax report
saying Yeltsin was planning to go swimming in an indoor
pool on 6 January. No pictures of Yeltsin's outdoor
activities in Valdai have been released. LB

CONFUSION SURROUNDS YELTSIN'S MEETING WITH
CHERNOMYRDIN

An unnamed presidential spokesman said
on 6 January that a meeting between Yeltsin and
Chernomyrdin scheduled for this week will not take place.
Government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov, however,
denied that any such meeting was scheduled, ITAR-TASS
reported. He added that the premier has not scheduled any
trip to Valdai to meet with the president. Yeltsin and
Chernomyrdin hold regular weekly meetings when both men
are in Moscow. LB

AIDE HINTS YELTSIN STILL CONSIDERING THIRD TERM

Appearing on Ekho Moskvy on 5 January, presidential legal
adviser Mikhail Krasnov said Yeltsin will decide whether to
run for re-election in 2000 only after the Constitutional
Court rules on whether he is legally entitled to seek a third
term. Last fall, the State Duma asked the court to rule on
the issue after several presidential aides hinted that
Yeltsin may run again. Krasnov's comments may be aimed at
quelling speculation about the president's health. Krasnov
has previously criticized the Duma's court appeal, saying it
reflects "unhealthy suspicion" on the part of the Duma and
even "contempt" toward Yeltsin (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 31
October 1997). Anna Malysheva, the head of the
Constitutional Court's press service, told RFE/RL's Moscow
bureau on 6 January that the court has not set a date for
considering the Duma's appeal. LB

CHERNOMYRDIN SAYS REGIONAL LEADERS
RESPONSIBLE FOR WAGE PAYMENTS

Prime Minister
Chernomyrdin says that regional leaders are responsible
for ensuring that funds earmarked to pay wages to state
employees are spent for that purpose, ITAR-TASS
reported. According to a statement issued by the
presidential press service, Chernomyrdin told Yeltsin
during a 6 January telephone conversation that although
the federal government transferred enough funds to pay
back wages by 31 December, people are still waiting for
wage payments in some localities. "Everything depends
now on the efficiency of regional authorities," he added.
Federal officials have frequently blamed regional leaders
for persistent wage arrears, saying funds meant to settle
wage debts are often misallocated after arriving in the
regions. LB

NEWSPAPER SAYS MANY DEBTS STILL OUTSTANDING

"Novye izvestiya" charged on 6 January that triumphant
reports about the payment of wage arrears to state
employees are misleading because federal and regional
authorities still owe other massive debts to citizens. By
way of example, the newspaper cited non-payment of child
allowances and wage arrears owed to workers at private
enterprises that have not been paid for state orders.
"Novye izvestiya" is reportedly partly financed by former
Security Council Deputy Secretary Boris Berezovskii. LB

CONFLICTING REPORTS ON GOVERNMENT DEBT TO
MILITARY

Government spokesman Shabdurasulov on 6
January said that the government has allocated sufficient
funds to pay wage arrears and financial benefits to military
personnel, ITAR-TASS reported. However, he
acknowledged that many soldiers are still owed various
payments in kind, which, he added, they will receive
sometime in 1998. Shabdurasulov argued that media
reports on debts owed to the military often confuse
monetary payments with payments in kind. He also noted
that the Defense Ministry is responsible for making sure
funds allocated toward paying debts to soldiers are not
misused. Meanwhile, "Trud" reported on 6 January that
most army personnel have not received their wages for
December. The newspaper also said officers have only just
received their year-end bonuses from 1996 and will not
receive those for 1997 until summer 1998. "Trud" is
financed by the gas monopoly Gazprom. LB

KULIKOV PROPOSES PREEMPTIVE STRIKES AGAINST
CHECHNYA

Interior Minister Anatolii Kulikov on 6 January
argued that the 22 December attack by Chechen militants
on a Russian military base in neighboring Dagestan is
justification for the Russian security forces to carry out
"precautionary operations" against the hideouts of
"gangsters" in Chechnya, Russian agencies reported.
Russian government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov,
however, told ITAR-TASS that Kulikov was expressing his
personal opinion and that the possibility of such
preemptive strikes has been neither discussed with Prime
Minister Chernomyrdin nor suggested to President Yeltsin.
In Grozny, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Movladi
Udugov condemned Kulikov's statement as a provocation
aimed at undermining the peace process. Also on 6 January,
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ramazan Abdulatipov
proposed that Kulikov and himself be given emergency
powers to take measures aimed at stabilizing the situation
in the North Caucasus. LF

FOREIGN MINISTRY SLAMS U.S-TURKISH-ISRAELI
NAVAL MANEUVERS...

Speaking at a press conference in
Moscow on 6 January, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Gennadii Tarasov said the upcoming U.S.-Turkish-Israeli
naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean "may
aggravate mistrust" and undermine efforts to bring
stability to the region, Russian agencies reported. Tarasov
pointed out that the exercises have already been
postponed several times because of Egyptian and Syrian
protests that they constituted a move toward creating a
military axis between Israel and Turkey. Such a
configuration would threaten the security of Arab
countries, he added. LF

...PRAISES RELATIONS WITH JAPAN

Also on 6 January,
Tarasov said the Russian-Japanese agreement on fishing
rights around the Kuril Islands is evidence of a growing
partnership, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. He said "the
positive experience gained from the talks" will help boost
cooperation, particularly "joint economic activities." Since
the early November meeting between Yeltsin and Japanese
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japanese investment in
Russian projects has grown rapidly, particularly in the off-
shore oil fields near Sakhalin Island. BP

JAPAN'S HASHIMOTO RETURNS COMPLIMENT

Hashimoto, for his part, told the Japanese cabinet on 6
January that one of the country's priorities in 1998 is
developing relations with Russia, ITAR-TASS reported. In
his New Year's address, he also said Russia's participation
in the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group
would further strengthen economic and political relations
among member countries, Japan's NHK television reported.
At the same time, Hashimoto said a peace treaty with
Russia could not be signed until territorial disputes are
resolved. ITAR-TASS on 7 January dismissed that
statement as "designed to appease Japanese public
opinion." Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Minoru Tamba is
to visit Moscow later this month to discuss concluding a
treaty formally ending Second World War hostilities. BP

AMNESTY FOR SOME OFFICERS CHARGED WITH
CORRUPTION

Deputy Military Prosecutor-General Yurii
Yakovlev announced on 6 January that the amnesty
recently approved by the Duma will apply to about half of
the 30 generals and admirals who have been charged with
corruption, Interfax reported. The amnesty covers
veterans of the Chechen war and other combat operations.
It also applies to those who served in the Russian armed
forces in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, and the
Baltic States after 1 December 1991 . However, Yakovlev
said the amnesty will not apply to former Deputy Defense
Minister Konstantin Kobets, who was arrested last May.
Kobets faces charges on bribery, abuse of office, and
illegal possession of firearms (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19
May 1997). LB

MINISTER OUTLINES OIL COMPANY PRIVATIZATION
PLANS

State Property Minister Farit Gazizullin announced
on 6 January that auctions will be held in January for stakes
in the Tyumen, Eastern, and Slavneft oil companies, Russian
news agencies reported. An auction for a 19.68 percent
stake in Slavneft was canceled in December, as no bids
were offered, Interfax reported on 25 December. The
previous month, officials called off a tender for a 34
percent stake in the Eastern Oil Company because only one
bid was submitted for that tender. They also postponed the
sale of a 48.68 percent stake in the Tyumen company
pending a court challenge to the auction. Gazizullin said
that before the end of January, a resolution will be
approved on the sale of a 50 percent plus one share in the
Rosneft oil company during the first quarter of 1998. A
46.15 percent stake in Rosneft will be sold in a special cash
auction later, and the remaining shares are to be
distributed to Rosneft employees. LB

YELTSIN HERALDS "RETURN TO ROOTS" IN CHRISTMAS
ADDRESS

In an address broadcast on Russian Television
on 6 January, Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve, Yeltsin said
the celebration of Christmas "marks the restoration of our
lost cultural values and traditions, a return to our roots."
While noting that Russia is a secular state, Yeltsin
remarked that more and more churches are being restored
or built, which reflects how "people are striving to find lost
moral values." In a year-end radio address broadcast on 26
December, Yeltsin had said "spiritual values and civic
responsibilities" have been neglected in Russian society.
He noted that while concentrating on economic reform in
recent years, the authorities "overlooked certain things"
and "forgot [about] the ethics of entrepreneurship." It is
unclear whether the president recorded his Christmas
address before leaving for a two-week vacation on 4
January. LB

PATRIARCH CALLS FOR UNITY WITHIN CHURCH

In his
Christmas message, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Aleksii II said unity within the Orthodox Church is "the
most important concern" and called for increasing the
Church's social, educational, and missionary activities,
ITAR-TASS reported. The Russian Orthodox Church has
come into conflict with other Orthodox Churches in Russia,
Ukraine, and Estonia. Aleksii strongly supported a religion
law adopted in September 1997, which puts restrictions on
religious groups that cannot prove they have existed in
Russia for at least 15 years. Critics of that law say it
discriminates against denominations and faiths that were
banned or repressed during the Soviet period. In a
Christmas message to Aleksii, Yeltsin praised the
historical role of the Russian Orthodox Church and
expressed hope that the Church will help promote
morality, civic peace, and accord in Russian society. LB

OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER CRITICIZES
REDENOMINATION

"Sovetskaya Rossiya" on 6 January
argued that the redenomination of the ruble, which took
effect on 1 January, will inevitably increase inflation and
thereby hurt most Russian citizens. The newspaper said
that the money supply will increase as old and new ruble
bank notes are circulated simultaneously. Government
officials have denied that the redenomination will be
accompanied by an increase in the money supply (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 5 January 1998). "Sovetskaya Rossiya"
questioned the need to remove three zeroes from the
ruble, noting that countries such as Italy and Japan have
never carried out a redenomination. It also charged that
issuing new ruble notes will facilitate swindling, money
laundering, and counterfeiting. It went on to quote an
article in the "Financial Times" that argued that issuing new
bank notes will not in itself make the ruble a stable
currency, since Russia's most pressing economic problems
remain. LB

MURMANSK SITE OF WORST DYSENTERY OUTBREAK IN
50 YEARS

Sources in the Health Ministry told ITAR-TASS
on 6 January that 573 people contracted dysentery in
Murmansk Oblast between 23 and 31 December. More than
400 people were hospitalized in the worst outbreak of
dysentery in Russia since the Second World War.
Investigators from the Health Ministry concluded that
contaminated dairy products from a local collective farm
were the source of the outbreak. The farm's factory
continued to produce goods in unsanitary conditions after
equipment failures deprived the factory of hot and cold
running water. The outbreak was contained several days
after dairy products from the farm were recalled from
local shops. LB

RUSSIA OPPOSES "BOSNIAN VARIANT" FOR ABKHAZIA

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadii Tarasov on 6
January rejected the "constructive use of coercion" to
resolve the Abkhaz conflict. Tarasov argued that it would
be "dangerous" if options that have proved justifiable in
one conflict region would be systematically applied in
another. The use of violence in Abkhazia would lead to new
bloodshed, he argued. Georgian President Eduard
Shevardnadze had said on 1 January that he plans to raise
the possibility of a Bosnian-style operation in Abkhazia at
the next NATO Euro-Atlantic Council summit, which is
scheduled for May. Meanwhile, Abkhaz Presidential
Representative Anri Djergenia told Interfax on 6 January
that the "potential of the Abkhaz-Georgian peace process
has been exhausted." Djergenia said Abkhazia will continue
to insist on equal status with Georgia. LF

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER IN ISRAEL

Azerbaijani government sources have given contradictory
explanations for the ongoing visit to Israel of Azerbaijani
presidential adviser Vafa Guluzade. Turan on 5 January
cited an unnamed diplomat as claiming that Guluzade is on a
"working visit" at the invitation of Israeli State Adviser for
Foreign Policy Uzi Arad. The diplomat stressed the trip is
not intended as preparation for President Heidar Aliev's
planned visit to Israel. However, Interfax the next day
quoted an unnamed Azerbaijani government source as
saying the primary purpose of Guluzade's trip is to prepare
for Aliev' s visit. LF

INDEPENDENT AZERBAIJANI NEWS AGENCY UNDER
FIRE

Reporters sans Frontieres on 6 January wrote to
President Aliyev to express concern at Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Hasan Hasanov's criticism of the independent news
agency Turan. Hasanov had claimed on 22 December that
Turan's coverage of Armenian Foreign Minister Alexander
Arzoumanian's speech to the 18-19 December Copenhagen
meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization on
Security and Cooperation in Europe constituted "anti-
government activities." Hasanov subsequently accused
Turan of disseminating false information about the
meeting. On 23 December, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Tofik Zulfugarov threatened to bar Turan
employees from entering the ministry building. LF

NEW POLITICAL PARTY FOUNDED IN AZERBAIJAN

Equality, a political party representing the estimated
780,000 Azerbaijanis forced to flee their homes during the
war for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, will hold its founding
congress in late January at a camp for displaced persons,
Turan reported on 5 January. The party currently claims
some 4,000 members. It aims to protect the political and
economic rights of displaced persons and to fight
worsening corruption and the stratification of Azerbaijani
society. LF

CENTRAL ASIAN LEADERS RELEASE STATEMENT

In a
statement released on 6 January following the end of the
Ashgabat summit, the leaders of the five Central Asian
countries that belong to the Commonwealth of Independent
States said that the CIS is an "acceptable model for
cooperation at the transitional stage" but stressed that
each individual country must decide for itself what level of
participation best suits its needs. The five said they will
improve relations among themselves "based on long-term
partnership." Turkmenistan, citing its neutral status,
declined an invitation to join the Central Asian Union,
formed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan; but
Tajikistan's bid to join found support among the member
countries and Turkmenistan did not rule out an observer
role later. The five presidents again said they favored
negotiations to end the Afghan conflict. Help was also
offered to Tajikistan to establish a "democratic, secular
regime." BP

FORMER AFGHAN PRESIDENT IN TAJIKISTAN

Burhanuddin Rabbani has met with Tajik President Imomali
Rakhmonov and Abdullo Nuri, the chairman of the National
Reconciliation Commission, in an attempt to enlist their
support in mediating the Afghan conflict, Reuters and
ITAR-TASS reported on 6 January. Rabbani proposed that
an international conference under the aegis of the UN be
held and that all parties involved in the conflict send
representatives. He noted that all major groups in
Afghanistan support such a conference, except the Taliban
movement, which currently controls the majority of the
country. Rakhmonov and Nuri said they are in favor of such
a conference. BP

CHINA COMPLAINS ABOUT TREATMENT OF CHINESE IN
KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakh Television on 6 January broadcast a
statement by the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan
complaining about the treatment of Chinese citizens in
Kazakhstan, RFE/RL correspondents in Almaty reported.
The embassy expressed concern about the increasing
number of crimes committed against Chinese traders at
markets in the Kazakh capital. Those crimes include thefts
and beatings. The statement added that Kazakh border
guards and militia have on occasion taken part in such
crimes. BP

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT APPEALS FOR CHURCH UNITY

In his Orthodox Christmas message read on Ukrainian state
television on 6 January, President Leonid Kuchma urged the
country's Orthodox Churches to try to cooperate with one
another. Kuchma suggested that "unity in Orthodoxy is a
reliable guarantee of the spiritual unity of the nation."
Ukraine currently has three Orthodox hierarchies --the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, and the
smaller Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which
itself is divided into two subgroups. The three frequently
fight among themselves over property, doctrine, and
ecclesiastical subordination. PG

CHORNOBYL OFFICIAL SAYS CONTAINMENT BLOCK MAY
CRUMBLE

Valentin Koupnyi, the deputy director of the
Chornobyl nuclear power station, says the sarcophagus
around the part of the station damaged by the 1986
accident is "in danger of crumbling," Interfax-Ukraine
reported on 6 January. Koupnyi complained that there have
been no repairs to the containment wall because the
international community has not yet provided sufficient
funds. PG

POLAND GRANTS ASYLUM TO BELARUSIAN CITIZEN

The Polish government has granted asylum to Belarusian
journalist and Belarusian Popular Front activist Yan
Churilovich, according to the Belapan news agency and
RFE/RL's Belarusian service. Churilovich has been in
Warsaw for more than a year, working for a local
newspaper, studying at the university, and campaigning
against the government of Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka. PG

The cabinet on 6 January
approved in principle the 1998 privatization program, ETA
reported. The program includes Estonian Oil Shale, the
power utility Eesti Energia, Estonian Railroads, and the
telecommunications company Eesti Telekom. Economy
Minister Jaak Leimann told reporters that of those
companies, only Eesti Telekom will be fully privatized this
year. The state will also sell the remaining 30 percent in
the Estonian Shipping Company and 10 percent in the gas
company Eesti Gaas. A majority stake will be sold in the
state distillery Liviko. JC

...TURNS DOWN REQUEST TO EASE CITIZENSHIP LAW

Also on 6 January, the cabinet rejected a proposal by
ethnic Russian deputies that the requirements for
receiving Estonian citizenship be eased, ETA reported.
Under that proposal, non-Estonian pensioners, invalids, and
children as well as the spouses of Estonian citizens would
not have been required to pass a language exam to gain
citizenship. Russian deputy Sergei Ivanov told the news
agency that Russians have practically ceased to apply for
Estonian citizenship because all those capable of passing
the language exam have done so. Last month, the
government proposed amendments to the citizenship law
whereby all children born in Estonia would automatically
become citizens (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 December
1997). JC

ADAMKUS APPOINTS FRIEND AS CHIEF OF
PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION

President-elect
Valdas Adamkus has chosen his long-time friend Raimundas
Miezelis to head the administration of the President's
Office. Adamkus told BNS that he selected Miezelis
because of his "organizational and administrative skills."
The two men have been friends since attending college
together. Miezelis, who is 67 and chairman of the Valdas
Adamkus Fund, returned to Lithuania last year after
pursuing a career in the U.S. and South America. Meanwhile,
ELTA reports that Adamkus will take his oath of office on
25 February. JC

KLAUS'S POSITION ENDORSED BY PARLIAMENTARY
FACTION

The Civic Democratic Party's (ODS)
parliamentary faction on 6 January voted by 32 to 26 to
support the ODS Executive Council's position that ministers
Stanislav Volak, Ivan Pilip, Michal Lobkowicz, and Jan Cerny
do not represent the party in Josef Tosovsky's cabinet,
CTK reported. At the same time, the faction declared its
readiness to support the new cabinet provided that its
program reflects that of the ODS. Former Interior Minister
Ivan Ruml told CTK that the members of the ODS wing who
oppose former Premier and ODS Chairman Vaclav Klaus
may set up a "firmer organizational structure" within the
next two weeks. Meanwhile, several ODS senators have
expressed reservations about President Vaclav Havel's
candidacy for a second term. Most ODS senators asked by
CTK said they "have yet to make up their mind." MS

CZECH CROWN REACHES RECORD LOW

The Czech crown
on 6 January fell to a record low of 36.05 to the U.S. dollar
and 19.72 to the German mark, AFP reported. The Central
Bank intervened "to prevent unjustified changes,"
according to a bank spokesman who did not detail the
extent of the intervention. In other news, an opinion poll
conducted by the Institute for Public Opinion Research in
December 1997 shows that 51 percent of Czechs believe
their income dropped last year, compared with 1996. Only
14 percent said their income rose, while 64 percent
claimed their income was lower than under the communist
regime. MS

EXTREMIST CZECH LEADER ARRESTED

Miroslav Sladek,
the chairman of the extreme-right Republican Party, was
arrested on 6 January in front of the Chamber of Deputies'
building in Prague, a party spokesman told CTK. Interior
Ministry spokesman Jan Subert said Sladek was arrested
for repeatedly refusing to show up for his trial on charges
of incitement to hatred. His parliamentary immunity was
lifted in February 1997 for remarks made during a visit by
Chancellor Helmut Kohl one month earlier that the Czechs
"did not kill enough Germans during World War II." MS

CZECH GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE WITH
CONSTRUCTION OF TEMELIN

Industry and Trade Minister
Karel Kuhnl on 6 January said the government is still set on
completing the controversial Temelin nuclear power plant,
despite delays and rising costs. Neighboring Austria
strongly objects to the plant, which it claims poses a risk
to the environment. The facility was originally scheduled to
be completed by 1995. The earliest completion date is now
late 1999, and it is estimated costs could exceed $2 billion.
MS

HUNGARIAN TV PRESIDENT DISMISSED

The board of
trustees overseeing Hungarian State Television dismissed
HTV president Istvan Petak on 6 January, saying he had
continuously breached the media law and mishandled funds,
Hungarian media reported. The board has named vice
president Lorant Horvath as acting president and asked the
prosecutor-general to launch an investigation into Petak's
mishandling of funds. Petak and opposition officials claim
that the decision was politically motivated and that
"certain [government] circles" want to gain an information
monopoly on television. MSZ

HUNGARIAN OFFICIAL REJECTS 'NEW YORK TIMES'
ALLEGATIONS

Security Services Minister Istvan Nikolits
has rejected allegations by "The New York Times" in its 5
January issue that former communist countries invited to
join NATO pose security problems because their
intelligence officers previously worked for the KGB,
Hungarian media reported the next day. Nikolits said the
report gives a false impression of Hungary's national
security staff, stressing that the secret service has been
"considerably renewed" since the end of communism. He did
not deny, however, that officers from the previous regime
still work for the services, explaining that security
interests do not allow all personnel to be changed. MSZ

BOSNIAN SERBS TOLD TO SET UP GOVERNMENT

A
spokesman for Carlos Westendorp, the international
community's chief representative in Bosnia, said in
Sarajevo on 6 January that the Bosnian Serbs must quickly
agree on a government or else Westendorp will take
"appropriate measures." Another spokesman for the
international community gave the same message in person
to Momcilo Krajisnik, the Bosnian Serb member of the joint
presidency, an RFE/RL correspondent reported from
Sarajevo. Krajisnik and other hard-liners are blocking
attempts by Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic to
form a government of technocrats (see "RFE/RL Bosnia
Report," 7 January 1998). At a conference in Bonn on 9-10
December, representatives of the international community
gave Westendorp increased powers to take decisions
should Bosnian politicians prove unable or unwilling to do
so themselves. PM

PLAVSIC SAYS BRCKO IS KEY TO DAYTON'S SURVIVAL

President Plavsic said in Banja Luka on 6 January that the
Dayton agreement will be dead if the international
community does not grant the contested strategic town of
Brcko to the Republika Srpska. She added that the Serbs
would not accept the cutting of their republic into two,
which, she stressed, would result were the Serbs to lose
Brcko. The town's future was the only question left open
when the Dayton agreement was concluded at the end of
1995. International mediators have repeatedly delayed
making a decision about Brcko, which had a Muslim majority
before the war but has linked the two halves of Bosnian
Serb territory since 1992. PM

DOES KARADZIC HAVE BLUEPRINT FOR BOSNIA?

Indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic drew up a plan in
November to outline Bosnian Serb hard-line strategy to
sabotage the Dayton accords, Western news agencies
reported from Sarajevo on 6 January. Bosnian officials
showed the document to U.S. President Bill Clinton during
his visit on 22 December. Observers said the plan contains
nothing new but is highly detailed and indicates that
Karadzic is still in charge among the Pale-based hard-
liners. Mirza Hajric, an aide to Alija Izetbegovic, the Muslim
member of the joint presidency, commented that "again we
have undeniable proof that Karadzic is controlling
developments in the Republika Srpska. There can be no
reconciliation [in Bosnia] until all war criminals are
arrested." Meanwhile in Bonn, German Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel said that Bosnian peacekeepers should have a
broader mandate to enable them to go after Karadzic and
arrest him. PM

IMBROGLIO OVER BOSNIAN SERB TV

Westendorp's
spokesman said in Sarajevo on 6 January that the
international community will appoint someone to supervise
the work of Bosnian Serb Television (SRT) in Plavsic's
stronghold of Banja Luka. The decision was prompted by
SRT's airing of a strongly anti-Croatian program during
Roman Catholic Christmas in December. The Dayton
agreement forbids the propagation of ethnic hatred. The
spokesman also said the international community has
rejected a request from hard-line TV Pale for the return of
transmitters seized by peacekeepers last summer. PM

HAGUE COURT LAUNCHES FOURTH TRIAL

The trial of
the Croat Zlatko Aleksovski began at the Hague-based
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
on 6 January. Aleksovski is charged with abusing Muslim
prisoners and using Muslim civilians as human shields
during the Croatian-Muslim conflict in 1993. PM

DUTCH AID FOR MOSTAR

Officials of the Dutch
government and of the Mostar city administration
announced in Herzegovina's main city on 6 January that The
Netherlands will help restore 450 buildings and other
objects in that area, an RFE/RL correspondent reported
from Mostar. In Washington the previous day, a spokesman
for the State Department said the U.S. will provide $29
million to help resettle refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina. PM

CROATIA SAYS MUSLIM MINORITY NOT "INDIGENOUS."

Bosnian government officials told an RFE/RL correspondent
in Sarajevo on 6 January that Croatian officials have said a
reference to a Muslim minority was dropped from recent
amendments to the Croatian Constitution because Muslims
are not "native" to Croatia but have migrated there in
recent times. The amendments also dropped any reference
to a Slovenian minority, presumably on the same grounds
(see "End Note," "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 December 1997).
Representatives of Croatia's large Muslim and Slovenian
minorities argue that those populations have long lived in
Croatia. They fear that the constitutional change means the
minorities will lose cultural and other rights. PM

MONTENEGRO'S BULATOVIC TO BELGRADE?

Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic may make outgoing
Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic, his staunch
supporter, Yugoslav foreign minister in order to remove
him from an increasingly difficult political position at
home, "Nasa Borba" wrote on 7 January (see "RFE/RL
Newsline, 5 January 1997). On 6 January, a Belgrade court
called into question the validity of the 19 October
election, which Bulatovic lost to President-elect Milo
Djukanovic, an opponent of Milosevic. Meanwhile in
Podgorica, Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Miodrag
Vukovic said he will propose a referendum for Montenegrin
independence from Yugoslavia if Milosevic ends
Montenegro's equal status with Serbia within the
federation, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote on
7 January. PM

DEMOCRATS CHARGE POLITICAL MURDERS IN
NORTHERN ALBANIA

Masked gunmen killed six people
near the northern city of Tropoja on 5 January, according to
"Gazeta Shqiptare." The Democratic Party said three of
those killed were members of its local branch. A party
statement published in "Rilindja Demokratike" on 7 January
blamed the killings on the government, which it called a
"criminal clique." The other victims were two policemen
and a secret service agent. The Interior Ministry has sent
special police to the city to investigate. Meanwhile, the
State Prosecutor's Office has accused four policemen of
killing a murder suspect in the Fier hospital on 5 January in
an apparent act of lynch justice. FS

ALBANIAN POLICE CHIEFS ACCUSED OF SMUGGLING

State prosecutors have charged 15 police chiefs with
involvement in smuggling, "Koha Jone" reported on 7
January. The prosecutors said all the accused were
employed under the previous Democratic government and
have left the country since the June 1997 elections.
Meanwhile, a group of judges who are protesting allegedly
political sackings resumed their hunger strike on 6 January
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 December 1997). They
interrupted their protest on 26 December after Catholic
Archbishop Rrok Mirdita offered to mediate a meeting
between them and President Rexhep Meidani. That meeting
never took place, however. FS

EBRD GRANTS LOAN TO ROMANIA

Minister of
Telecommunications Sorin Pantis and Charles Frank, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
representative in Romania, have signed an agreement on a
$100 million loan to Romania's Telecom company, RFE/RL's
Bucharest bureau reported. The seven-year loan is to
support the privatization plan for Telecom, which is to be
completed by the end of 1998. That plan provides for the
installation of new phone lines and improved operations
before the sale of the company. It also calls for an
international tender. At least 30 percent of the company's
stock is to be sold on the Bucharest stock exchange. MS

MOLDOVAN AUTONOMOUS REGION CHALLENGES
ELECTORAL LAW

The Parliamentary Assembly of the
autonomous Gagauz-Yeri region on 6 January unanimously
passed a resolution suspending the validity of the
Moldovan electoral law in the region, BASA-press
reported. The assembly objects to the stipulation in the
law whereby all Moldovan territory is one single electoral
district. Assembly speaker Piotr Pasali told BASA-press
that the measure is legal because under the existing
legislation providing for a special status for Gagauz-Yeri,
the assembly may suspend legislation passed by the
parliament in Chisinau until the Constitutional Court has
ruled on the assembly's objections. MS

RUSSIAN GAS DELIVERIES CUT TO BULGARIAN TOWNS

Russian gas deliveries to five Bulgarian towns have been
halted since 1 January because of the dispute between the
state-owned Bulgargas, on the one hand, and Topenergy
(controlled by Russia's Gazprom) and the private Bulgarian
Multigroup conglomerate, believed to be in the hands of
former Communists, on the other. Topenergy signed a
contract with Gazprom in 1997 to deliver gas to Bulgarian
consumers, but the pipelines are controlled by Bulgargas,
which refuses to allow Topenergy to act as intermediary
between itself and Gazprom. As a result, Bulgargas has cut
deliveries to Stara Zagora, Pazardjik, Lovich, Pervomai,
and Yambol, an RFE/RL correspondent in Sofia reported. An
agreement between Sofia and Gazprom to have Bulgargas
buy a controlling stake in Topenergy folded when
Multigroup refused to sell its holding. MS

BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ON CHURCH RIFT

Petar
Stoyanov has said the two rival heads of the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church, Patriarchs Maxim and Pymen, should both
resign in order to resolve the split within the Church,
RFE/RL's Sofia bureau reported on 6 January. Stoyanov said
it is "scandalous" that the Church has been "suffering from
this split for seven years." The Synod headed by Patriarch
Pymen has accused Patriarch Maxim of collaboration with
the communist regime. Speaking at a ceremony
commemorating Bulgarian national hero Hristo Botev, a
poet who died in 1875 fighting against the Turks, Stoyanov
said that "under [the Turkish] yoke, the Bulgarian clergy
chose prison and [even] death." Today, he added, "we are
asking for a smaller sacrifice from our prelates--to give
up their positions." MS

NEW CZECH CABINET BEGINS WORK AS KLAUS'S ODS
TEETERS

by Jolyon Naegele

"Three Kings' Day" in the Roman Catholic calendar (6
January) was supposed to have been the day on which the
three leaders of the Czech coalition parties were to have
met to sort out their differences. But in the months since
that meeting was agreed upon, the tripartite coalition
collapsed. Its leaders are now barely on speaking terms
with one another.

Former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus's Civic
Democratic Party (ODS) is in disarray, with nearly half its
deputies in the lower house forming a faction opposed to
Klaus and with the party leadership demanding that the
dissenters either terminate the faction's activities or
leave the ODS.

Last month, Klaus had unsuccessfully demanded that a
political agreement be reached with his designated
successor , Josef Tosovsky, before discussing ODS
nominations to the new cabinet. Tosovsky insisted that
each of the three coalition parties first submit names and
hold discussions later. He then circumvented Klaus and
offered posts to four ODS members, including the ODS whip
in the lower house of the parliament, Jan Cerny, and Finance
Minister Ivan Pilip, who had called for Klaus's resignation in
November.

The four new ministers--Pilip, Defense Minister Michal
Lobkowicz, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Stanislav
Volak, and Minister for Local Development Cerny--now face
demands from Klaus and his aides to either give up their
cabinet posts or leave the party.

President Vaclav Havel, despite his recuperative
vacation in the Canary Islands, has taken an active role in
forming the new government, appointing Tosovsky and
making clear which cabinet members from Klaus's
government could stay on and which had to leave. Havel
briefly interrupted his vacation and flew back to Prague to
swear in the new government on 2 January.

In a brief speech at the appointment ceremony,
Tosovsky said that the main issues in his not yet
elaborated government program will be actively
continuing negotiations on joining NATO and the EU,
resuming the pace of economic reform (including
privatization), fighting crime and corruption, and
improving access to information about the cabinet's work
by "making all decisions maximally transparent.".

After the 20 January presidential elections, the
parliament is due to hold a vote of confidence in the new
government. Klaus said recently that the four dissenting
ministers should "freely" choose either to stay in the
government and remove the party's initials after their
names or resign from the government.

On 5 January, however, the ODS leadership decided
that it will neither block Tosovsky's cabinet nor bind its
deputies in the confidence vote. This would appear to
ensure the government's survival. Moreover, the Social
Democrats said one day later that they will vote
confidence in the government, provided its mandate does
not go beyond June.

All these developments have exposed a variety of
shortcomings in how politics function in the Czech Republic.

Not only is the country still far from being a civil
society, where government ministers concede that the rule
of law is still a distant goal, but old Bolshevik habits are
alive and well in the ruling parties' structures. Stalin's
"democratic centralism" is Klaus's preferred way of dealing
with dissenting members. According to that doctrine,
discussion within the Party was permitted only until a
decision was reached; thereafter, no dissenting views were
tolerated,

Czech journalism has once again proven that its
greatest strength is political commentary and its most
glaring weakness investigative reporting. Stories about
shady party financing were poorly researched. Rumors of
Klaus's building a villa near Lake Constance in Switzerland
have been circulating among journalists for two years. But
it was not until late last year that a few Czech reporters
trooped off to Switzerland to try to find out the truth.

Klaus's blaming journalists for what he called the
"media assassination" of the ODS is further evidence of his
own lack of comprehension about the role of the news
media in a free society.

"Lidove noviny" warned on 6 January that "if the ODS
leadership does not ease up its confrontational tone, then
it is likely that it will lose not only the next elections but
all subsequent ones as well." The newspaper added that the
ODS is sending very ominous signals abroad about the
domestic situation, which, it stressed, is far from being as
unstable as is being claimed. Moreover, the newspaper
continued, the alleged chaos could harm the Czech
Republic's admission into Western structures.

Similarly, in an apparent bid not to jeopardize
Tosovsky's confidence vote, the Czech news media has
been silent about the new prime minister's party
affiliations in the past. Tosovsky is not currently affiliated
with any party. But as a banker, he was sent to London to
work at Zivnostenska banka in 1984-1985 and again in
1989. A former Czechoslovak diplomat who worked with
Tosovsky during his first posting in London told RFE/RL
that Tosovsky could not have been posted to London
without having been a member of the Czechoslovak
Communist Party.
The author is an RFE/RL senior news editor.